Urge British government: Stop violence in Burma

On January 20^th, Burmese Army soldiers raped and murdered two ethnic Kachin teachers. Maran Lu Ra (20 years old) and Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin (21 years old) were volunteering in the village of Shabuk-Kaunghka in northeastern Burma when they were attacked. The two teachers were from Wine Maw, a village in northern Burma that is regularly subjected to ethnic violence. 

Conflict in Burma has been ongoing since its independence in 1962. Su Thet San, a women’s rights activist from Burma and alumni of the Nobel Women Sister-to-Sister Mentorship Program states, “As long as women are victimized in armed conflict by military or other armed groups, peace is a far-reaching, lasting place. It [the murder of the two Kachin teachers] was such an intolerable phenomenon. The government must take action immediately. Women should be seen as change agents to peace building instead of being abused as victims in civil wars and armed conflict.”

The British military has been training the Burmese army since January 2014. This delegation was sent to Burma with the intention of reforming the abusive and violent regime. However, the violence continues even though the British government claimed ending sexual violence in Burma to be one of their primary foreign policy goals.